DRUG CASE STUNS HAIR SALON OWNER

Sharon Shuff says she had no idea a stylist who worked in her shop was
accepting Ecstasy shipments there; fallout of arrest has hurt business.

UPLAND - Sharon Shuff was surprised to hear that the biggest single seizure
in U.S. history of the illicit drug Ecstasy happened in this town where she
owns a hair salon.

She was even more shocked when the evening news reported one of the
suspects, Larissa Johnson of Fontana, worked at her shop. Shuff said she
didn't know anything about the case until she saw the front door of her
salon on the news.

"I almost passed out because I couldn't believe what I saw," she said. "We
never knew anything was in those boxes. We're all hairstylists and we all
get delivered supplies every day."

Shuff, who lives in Fontana with her husband, Henry, a San Bernardino
County parole agent, shed tears Tuesday afternoon as she described losing
longtime clients because of the bad publicity that struck without warning
last week. An angry scrawl on a brown paper sign that had been tacked to
the Ritz Hair Salon's front door said, "No drug dealers! Go away trash!!"

On Thursday, agents announced the results of an investigation that tracked
about 100 pounds of the hallucinogenic drug Ecstasy to Johnson, one of six
people arrested in connection with the seizure of 700 pounds of the drug,
worth $30 million.

Johnson rented a booth at the Ritz for $145 a week for the last three
months, Shuff said. Two of Johnson's clients, 34-year-old Sonja McDaniel
and 45-year-old Amenah Jackson, both of Thousand Oaks, were also arrested
by federal agents on suspicion of possessing Ecstasy with intent to sell.

A couple of weeks ago, a Federal Express carrier delivered two moving boxes
to Shuff's salon for Johnson, said Ritz hairstylist Wilma Johnson.

"Larissa walked over and told him, 'Those are mine, take them to my car,' "
Wilma Johnson said.

The boxes contained Ecstasy, investigators said.

Last Tuesday, an officer walked into the salon looking for Johnson about a
hit-and-run accident, Shuff said.

"He called her over to the side to talk to her," she said. "Then she went
back to her station and finished her client's hair. When she finished she
walked outside with the officer."

Shuff said Johnson told her co-workers, "Whatever they are looking for was
not in my car so they want me to go home and get it."

About a half hour later, Johnson called the salon and told Shuff to call
her mother to pick up her son because the officers "found what they were
looking for."

"We never knew her arrest was linked to those boxes," Shuff said.

Shuff said many of her clients are from law enforcement. Two hairstylists
are ministers.

"But people have told us now that they aren't coming," she said. "It's awful."

Johnson's initial appearance and detention hearing are scheduled today at
the U.S. District Court in Los Angeles. She and 33-year-old Fontana
resident Lance White are being held on suspicion of conspiring to possess
Ecstasy with the intent to sell, said U.S. Attorney Jason Forge.

Forge said the Shuffs are not part of the investigation.

White had a similar shipment sent to him from France at the Mail Boxes Etc.
in Rancho Cucamonga, but investigators haven't yet found the boxes, Forge
said.

"We are tracking that down," he said.

The other four suspects, John Ibrahim, 22, of West Covina; Tamara Pitman,
22, of Azusa; Jackson and McDaniel are awaiting indictments on possession
of Ecstasy with the intent to sell. If they are indicted, they will enter a
plea on Jan. 10 in federal court, Forge said.

All the suspects in the bust are being held at the Metropolitan Detention
Center in Los Angeles.

Investigators believe the six were working for Mounir Deiri, described as a
Brentwood resident in his early 30s, Forge said.

"He is high up on the food chain, but we don't know yet how high," Forge said.

Deiri, also known as Omar Raad, jumped $150,000 bail when he was charged in
another smaller Ecstasy case, Forge said.

He remains at large, Forge said.